It is known to carry bicycles on a vehicle using a cycle carrier, that is to say, a device which fixes (usually removably) to the vehicle and has a frame formed and adapted to support one or more bicycles stably. One known type, usually mounted at the rear of a vehicle using a towbar, has a frame including wheel supports on which the cycle wheels locate and rest, and a frame support portion, usually an upstanding frame portion, to which an upper part of the cycle frame is connected by a support bar to keep it upright.
Carriers to carry two or more cycles generally arrange them side by side (each cycle extending across the vehicle) using support bars to keep each cycle upright, stable and spaced from the adjacent carrier frame and cycle so as to avoid damage. Typically this is by a set of support bars of different lengths which each connect removably at one end (the “carrier end”) to the frame support portion of the carrier, by means of a grip, clamp or holding device (“grip device” henceforth) and at the other end (the “cycle end”) to a frame member of a respective cycle of the set by another grip device. The grip devices are part of the support bar. They may be the same or different at the cycle end and carrier end. See e.g. WO2006/004519.
In a cycle carrier it is difficult to combine convenience with security against theft. Some products provide key locking. An effective lock requires of course that both grip devices are locked. We note that these designs compromise or limit the speed of fastening and unfastening of the grip devices as well as the form and weight of the bar and the types of grip devices which can be used. See e.g. WO2009/065817.